


Oneiric

by Choi_Aya05



Series: Day6 Supernatural AU [8]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Character Death, Demon Kim Wonpil, Gen, Ghost Park Sungjin, Mentioned Parkian, Terminal Illnesses, nothing graphic tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27261562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Choi_Aya05/pseuds/Choi_Aya05
Summary: "How have you been, My Prince?" His father asked with a smile that softened the harsh edges of his face."I had chanced upon this path that led me to a house. A rather humble one. A fox, a night creature, and a demon lived there.""How was it, so far? Do they treat you well?" His mother inquired, eyes alight with curiosity.Sungjin huffed. "They speak to me informally and address me by name."Or: Sungjin had not return to the palace since he died. But with the Queen's impending demise, Wonpil helped him reunite with his family for one night.
Relationships: Kim Wonpil & Park Sungjin
Series: Day6 Supernatural AU [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862596
Comments: 8
Kudos: 17
Collections: Day6 OTPs





	Oneiric

Shuffling steps, as though the shoes were being dragged against the dirt. As though the body they carried weighted far beyond their capacity.

It wouldn't be loud had it been daytime, but in the silence of the night, it might as well be heard all over the kingdom.

It had become a familiar noise after weeks of hearing it every night, at the very exact time. If one were to take a peek, then they would see: how it was with a gait burdened by anguish that the King journeyed to the Queen's chambers.

To his Queen, who would leave him one of these days. Perhaps later, or tomorrow, or the next day.

He would lose her, like he lost the Prince.

He had been neglecting most of his duties, but none had the heart to stop him. They too mourned.

Mourned the kind and intelligent Prince, and now the wise and loving Queen.

He felt so shameful for depending on his daughter when she herself was hurting, but her words had assured him: " _trust me, Father, and I shall give you pride. Cry for them for my sake, and once you're strong enough, hold me as I cry for them in turn."_

He was beyond proud for raising such a child. And it hurt that he only had one left; so he made a pact with himself to cherish and appreciate her for as long as he lived.

He arrived at his destination and didn't wait to be announced. The court ladies already know by now to stay out of his way. They opened the doors for him and soon enough, he reached his love.

Her eyes weakly opened; she could barely lift a hand nowadays but she still smiled despite it. A smile— _the_ smile—that was only ever given to him. Only for him.

The Queen's smile for the King; a wife's smile for her husband; a lady's smile for her man.

The smile she had given on their first meeting and their wedding ceremony; the one she shared with him after giving birth to their daughter, then their son.

He felt his heart rip into shreds. His lips wobbled and his eyes stung. He staggered towards her and settled by her futon's side. He took her hand and gave an exhalation of both content and pain. "My Queen."

"Your Majesty," she whispered back, and said nothing else for the night.

He watched over as she fell back in a deep sleep, desperately hoping she'd wake for another day. Somewhere along the way, his head hit her bedding and he joined her in a fitful sleep.

Outside the palace walls were their beloved son, who was returning for the first time after his death.

It was a demon that heard the rumors of the Queen's condition from loitering around the kingdom. It was him that had suggested the idea, backed immediately by a fox and a night creature.

So there he was, standing with the demon by his side, eyeing the stone wall with dread and longing. The demon's earlier words rung in his head: _for them, it will be nothing but a dream. It is true to only you. But you shall meet your mother soon, I could tell. Then she would know._

Sungjin heaved a heavy sigh before turning to Wonpil. "Shall we?"

"Your sister first?"

He head bobbed in agreement, Wonpil mimicking the motion. Then the demon gripped his hand. Sungjin blinked.

He was in the Princess' room and Wonpil was nowhere in sight.

His gaze landed on the Princess, seated by her round table in her daytime garb with her blank eyes glued to it. She looked like a doll: beautiful but unable to do anything without someone to control it.

"Princess," he spoke quietly, a gentle ripple on a still water. Her eyes opened and closed slowly, as if with difficulty, before they slowly lifted to meet his.

"Your Highness," she whispered, eyes widening and starting to glisten. "Sungjin-ah."

"Noonim."

She stood, her chair screeching in protest. With wide strides she crossed their distance and grabbed him into her arms. Disbelieving but hopeful; relieved yet yearning.

It took a few moments before she released him, only to inspect his existence. "You're for real right? You are here, truly?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat and ignored the way her desperate tone pierced his heart. "Yes, noonim. I am here. I have always been."

"You have?" She cried. He wiped her tears away affectionately. It was a rarity for her to be this emotional, and he was both amused and aching.

"Always. I know you have done some of the reformation we have talked about back then, if you remember? In the library?" He gave her a nostalgic grin. His sister sniffed, wiping away the leftover wetness on her cheeks.

"Of course I remember. And of course I did. It was with you in my mind and heart," she confessed. He grasped her hand.

"Then I hope you'll continue to bear in mind and heart how grateful I am to you. Keep it in your thoughts, that though I am no longer visible to you, I will never cease in supporting and loving you." He smiled.

She smiled back.

The Princess' eyes fluttered open. Her arms that were crossed on the table were numb from falling asleep on them; her back hurt from her hunched position; and in her heart, a void that would never be filled again.

A hand on his shoulder roused the King from his slumber.

He lifted his slumped body, blinking at the Queen who was sitting up. The hand didn't belong to her; she was longingly staring at something past him. So he looked back, to the hand's owner.

His Prince. His son. His boy.

"Sungjin?" He asked, faint with disbelief. But the hand's weight was solid and when he caught it with his, it didn't disappear—unlike the images his mind would conjure in times of unbearable sorrow.

"Your Majesty." The Prince's smile— _Sungjin's_ smile, something prominent in his memory yet his imagination could never seem to replicate. A mirror of his, as he had taken most of his father's features.

Tonight, he wasn't a King; he was simply a husband and a father. And so he freely wept.

His wife was there to catch his tears. His son was there to ground him. His daughter, though not present, was a reminder of the bright things he could still look forward to in his life. Together, they all provided him solace.

They were _home_.

"How have you been, My Prince?" His father asked with a smile that softened the harsh edges of his face. His eyes trailed after Sungjin as he sat on his mother's bed beside her.

Sungjin was more than elated to divulge. "I had chanced upon this path that led me to a house. A rather humble one. A fox, a creature of the night, and a demon lived there."

His mother gave a gasp of intrigue, while his father raised a brow. Otherwise they both seem to accept the queerness easily. Sungjin grinned.

"The night creature turned out to be the witch that mother had summoned to save me, do you recall? As odd as it sounds, they had asked me to live with them."

"How was it, so far? Do they treat you well?" His mother inquired, eyes alight with curiosity.

Sungjin huffed. "They speak to me informally and address me by name."

His father chuckled wetly. "Sounds like you got the what you've always longed for, son."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think your father would be blind to these matters? I have known. I have heard. You know what they say, right? 'The palace walls have ears and eyes.' They have told me that you sometimes wished we were a normal family. And I feel so much regret that I could never grant it."

His father scoffed to himself, continuing, "what good is it, being a King, the father of a country? I could'nt even give my own son what he wanted."

"I never blamed you, Father. I never resented you."

"I know, son. I know the kindness of your heart, and how broad you mind is. Your friends—I can now be assured that you have found another family. Albeit unconventional, but one that could give you what I never did."

He gave his son's shoulder a firm, loving pat. "I am happy that you have found the happiness you sought for, Sungjin-ah."

"So am I, my son." His mother leaned her head on his shoulder, hands on his arm. "So am I."

Sungjin leaned back on her ever so slightly, nodding in a wordless appreciation of their sentiments.

"I visited noonim a while ago," he informed with a smile. "She was asleep on her table."

"That girl," his father resignedly said, and they shared fond chuckles.

They stayed like that for a while, basking in each other's presence; wishing they were complete, but trying to be content. There was a looming darkness in the distance, however, and they were aware it would catch up to them soon. They didn't address it—they didn't want to tarnish this time they were given to spend together.

Because it felt like the last.

There was a sort of pull, like the nudge he had felt when he was with his sister, and Sungjin knew: the time was up.

"I have to go," he announced, voice thick with grief.

His mother's fingers clutched harder on his arm but eventually unclasped. His father screwed his eyes shut, slowly releasing a long breath. "Right."

"Noonim's back would surely be sore tomorrow," he commented lightly as he stood. He looked back at them with one final carefree grin. "Tease her for me, will you?"

His mother's chortle morphed into a cry so his father took over.

"We will," he swore, smiling against the tears. "Sungjin-ah," he called out just as Sungjin moved to go. "Do apologize to the witch for me."

Sungjin's lips parted, taken aback. One of the first things everyone had embedded in his mind was that _a king never had to apologize or thank anyone_. For his father to do so, and simply not by words—Sungjin saw the earnestness, the need to be truly forgiven.

The king's expression reminded him of the stream they had once stopped by on a travel, so clear and bright.

Sungjin nodded once: in an expression of satisfaction, an oath, and a gesture of goodbye.

Sungjin blinked. The demon was gripping his hand.

Wonpil stared, full of tenderness that Sungjin couldn't help but allow him to witness his breakdown.

They stayed on their spots, waiting for the daybreak.

And then they heard it: the wails inside the palace. Loud, echoing, shaking Sungjin like a sudden thunder in the deafening silence.

He staggered back by the force of it as if it had been a physical blow, releasing stuttering huffs of air.

His mother was dead. Just like him.

She had left the King and the Princess. Just like he had.

"We need to go," Wonpil gently prodded, eyes rounded by sympathy and concern. Strange, how a being made out of spite, known for their lack of compassion, could be this understanding. Perhaps it was only Wonpil. Sungjin was grateful either way.

He let Wonpil take his hand once more and teleport them to the Queen's palace, in time to see her walk out of it clad in her last clothes. She was solemn, but shed no tears. She had obtained the same ethereal glow as Sungjin had, officially sealing in the fact that this was the reality.

His mother was gone.

"My Prince," she called upon seeing him, her smile equal parts doleful and jovial. Wonpil let him go and he met her halfway, a hand extended for him to take. She began tearing up once she had him in her hold.

"It was real." She gave a short laugh, both incredulous and thankful.

"It was." He smiled back, squeezing her hand. With her free one, she cupped his cheek exactly how she would when he was a kid that did something to tug at her maternal instincts.

"Sungjin-ah, my son." She sniffled, lips quivering. "How grateful I am to be given a chance to see you again, no matter the circumstances."

"So am I." His voice cracked, a sob breaking through it. He slouched over, not a prince in front of his queen, but a vulnerable son in front of his mother.

She took him in her arms, the touch reminiscent to holding an inanimate object with its distinct lack in warmth. But warmth didn't have to be tangible, he realized it most especially in this moment. It was also in knowing his mother's love, and it was enough.

His mother's embrace loosened in the slightest bit, and through his closed eyelids Sungjin could detect the bright light. He recognized it, had seen it take some of the souls he had met before.

It was time.

He leaned back to look at her countenance, memorizing every single detail. "I love you, Mother," he said with all of the sincerity he could give.

She smiled, a serene little thing. "I love you too, Sungjin-ah. Always."

"You are aware you could follow her, right?" Wonpil asked hours later, back in their house, cadence quiet and kind. He sat beside Sungjin whose head was tipped back to peer up at the stars.

"I know," Sungjin answered. He did, but for reasons he had yet to fathom, he didn't want to. Perhaps it was the youthful side of him, the profound longing to see more of the world. He only knew that he wasn't prepared to fully depart.

Not yet.

**Author's Note:**

> This had been finished since last month, but I forgot which order I'm posting these fics. LOL I thought I was gonna post the other one first cause I kinda... forgot about this. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ That was epic. Maybe I should set an alarm for these?


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